"Chemnitz - Karl-Marx-Stadt - Chemnitz"
Top 5 Page for this destinationChemnitz by Kathrin_E

Chemnitz is of interest to people who want to look for the traces of changes: the change from a smallish town to an industrial city in the late 19th century, the socialist city of the 1950s to 1980s, the change that lead to the reunification of Germany and what has happened since then. It is a destination for people who travel to discover, learn, and try to understand.

Chemnitz is not exactly what you'd call a tourist destination, but I spent a very interesting weekend there recently. This city represents DDR history more than others to me as a Wessi because socialism even abandoned its old name and renamed it Karl-Marx-Stadt. Countless letters from our relatives in the East arrived in our letter box with this 35 Pfennig stamp on them. This was the predominant picture we had - and I am glad that the Marx monument together with the building behind it has not been demolished after the end of socialism.

A poll among the citizens in the early 1990s lead to the reintroduction of the old name Chemnitz. Since then, modern shopping centres and department stores with glittering facades have invaded the city centre. I could not help but notice, though, that these were almost empty even during the best after-work shopping hour, while the cheapo street market in front of them was a lot busier. Unemployment is high and I think many people just don't have the money.

Comments (3)

Happy New Year, Kathrin! I enjoyed reading your thoughtful and informative Chemnitz reviews. I agree that the bust of Karl Marx should stay there. He was an important historical personage, after all. In Dessau they have also retained a (much smaller) bust of Marx in a park, at least it was still there on my last visit.